page_title: Moncton
section_title: Geography
hierarchical_section_title: Moncton / Geography
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: On voit la rivière Petitcodiac
context_page_description: Moncton is one of three major urban centres in the Canadian province of New Brunswick, along with Saint John and the capital city of Fredericton. Situated in the Petitcodiac River Valley, Moncton lies at the geographic centre of the Maritime Provinces. The city has earned the nickname "Hub City" because of its central inland location in the region and its history as a railway and land transportation hub for the Maritimes.
  The city proper has a population of 71,889 and a land area of 142 km². Greater Moncton has a population of 144,810, making it the largest city and census metropolitan area in New Brunswick, and the second-largest city and CMA in the Maritime Provinces. The CMA includes the neighbouring city of Dieppe and the town of Riverview, as well as adjacent suburban areas in Westmorland and Albert counties.
  Although the Moncton area was first settled in 1733, Moncton was officially founded in 1766 with the arrival of Pennsylvania Dutch immigrants from Philadelphia. Initially an agricultural settlement, Moncton was not incorporated until 1855. The city was named for Lt. Col. Robert Monckton, the British officer who had captured nearby Fort Beauséjour a century earlier.
context_section_description: Moncton lies in southeastern New Brunswick, at the geographic centre of the Maritime Provinces. The city is located along the north bank of the Petitcodiac River at a point where the river bends acutely from a west−east to north−south flow. This geographical feature has contributed significantly to historical names given to the community. Petitcodiac in the Mi'kmaq language has been translated as meaning "bends like a bow". The early Acadian settlers in the region named their community Le Coude which means "the elbow". Subsequent English immigrants changed the name of the settlement to The Bend of the Petitcodiac (or simply The Bend).
  The Petitcodiac river valley at Moncton is broad and relatively flat, bounded by a long ridge to the north (Lutes Mountain) and by the rugged Caledonia Highlands to the south. Moncton lies at the original head of navigation on the river, however a causeway to Riverview (constructed in 1968) resulted in extensive sedimentation of the river channel downstream and rendered the Moncton area of the waterway unnavigable. On April 14, 2010, the causeway gates were opened in an effort to restore the silt-laden river.
caption: Moncton is located along the north bank of the Petitcodiac River, at a point where the river bends acutely from a west-east to north-south flow.
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "1024", "Image ImageLength": "768", "Image BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Image PhotometricInterpretation": "2", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS5 Windows", "Image DateTime": "2010:12:31 14:39:11", "Image ExifOffset": "228", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "378", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5028", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1024", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "768"}